Getting the NHL back on the ice: Editorial

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman addresses the National Hockey League lockout during a press conference at the Westin New York in Times Square.Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports

In a matter of days, the Devils and the rest of the NHL return to the ice, finally ending a 113-day lockout that erased almost half a season.

Let’s be grateful — not for the 1-percenters, the millionaires and billionaires who finally have new rules for divvying their treasure. No, let’s be happy for blue-collar Joes whose livelihoods depend on the games that rich owners and athletes were too stubborn to play.

After nearly four months, there’s relief for the staff at Newark’s Prudential Center and other arenas — ushers and security guards, concessionaires and cleanup crews — and for the bars, restaurants and more who make their livings from the traffic that hockey creates.

In an ordinary season, Devils fans spend $5 million a year outside the arena. There will be only 25 home games in this lockout-shortened season, instead of the typical 41. That’s better than zero — that’s what happened when the entire 2004-2005 season was wiped out.

How much longer will fans remain loyal as the NHL’s rulers commit a slow, deliberate suicide?

The NHL drove away a big chunk of its fan base with the 2004-05 lockout, which canceled a season. But that stoppage led to a new contract that was supposed to restore financial sanity to hockey, largely in the form of a salary cap. But when that contract expired this season, the same owners weren’t satisfied. And so it began again.

While it’s too soon for hard numbers, who knows what kind of damage the lockout caused? Cancel games, fans get angry. For hockey, which depends more on ticket sales than TV ratings, the fear is fans might find somewhere else to spend their money.
That’s a question for hockey’s future. For the present, let’s cheer its return. For the teams, sure. For the fans, of course. But mostly, for the tens of thousands of working stiffs whose paychecks depend on the hockey games.